Dr. Robert Arciero of the UConn Health Center’s New England Musculoskeletal Institute has been honored by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine for his contribution to sports medicine education.

The George D. Rovere Award recognizes an orthopaedic sports medicine specialist who has demonstrated excellence in the education of his peers in the most current nonoperative and operative techniques in managing sports injuries. The society’s education committee selects the awardee annually.

“The Rovere Award is one of the most prestigious honors offered by the AOSSM and recognizes Dr. Arciero’s significant contributions to sports medicine education,” says Dr. Jay Lieberman, director of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute and professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. “He is not only an outstanding surgeon but a superb teacher. We are quite fortunate to have him lead our division of sports medicine.”

Arciero is professor and chief of the Sports Medicine Division of the UConn Health Center’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, director of the Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship program, and team physician for UConn athletics. He is a nationally renowned expert in shoulder and knee repair who has pioneered work in developing surgical techniques for treating shoulder and knee instability that more closely restore normal joint function.

“I am honored to receive this award since Dr. Rovere was a renowned surgeon and teacher,” Arciero says. “He had a great influence on his patients and his fellow orthopaedic surgeons.”

Past recipients of the Rovere award include orthopaedic surgeons James Andrews and Frank Jobe, whose names have become nearly as familiar as the professional athletes they’ve treated. Jobe is the father of ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, the elbow surgery that has become known as “Tommy John surgery.”

Arciero accepted the award July 8 at the AOSSM’s annual meeting in San Diego.